AFTER this, Cardiff City will be one of the favourites to finish in the Championship top two this season and I really hope they embrace that pressure.

Malky Mackay has spent a lot of money this summer, but in fairness he has brought in a much better calibre of player.

Of course with that comes a lot more expectation, but the Bluebirds showed against Wolves that this season they might just be ready to step up to the plate.

With the squad Cardiff have, you’ve got to be looking at them as favourites for one of the automatic promotion places and I do think in recent years that has been a bit of a problem for them. If you are favourites, take that responsibility on, embrace it and I don’t think Cardiff have done that, particularly under former manager Dave Jones.

Someone has got to win and someone has got to lose. If you are favourites because you are starting from a better position then don’t shy away from that.

They go out to win every games, the manager sends them out to do that, but they must accept that favourites’ tag.

If they can get into the frame of mind where they think “yes, we are one of the best teams in this division, we expect to be up there” then it will be a big help.

Let’s face it, if you don’t believe in it yourself really and truly then you are defeated before you start. Cardiff have been guilty of that in the past, but they must have that self-belief.

When it comes to the win over Wolves yesterday, well, what I can say is, wow, what a difference a week makes.

You left Ashton Gate the week before worrying it was going to be a hard old season, but against Wolves, Cardiff looked a different side, obviously because in many ways they were.

I’ve been saying for ages that we needed wide men with pace who carried a threat and I think Mackay, in Craig Noone and Tommy Smith, has found just that.

It made the difference for me. Noone in particular had a very good debut. His dribbling ability and general play is very impressive. He looks a constant threat. If there are 20 yards in front of you, run into it and that’s what he does. It’s simple.

I think the difference from last year is that back then Cardiff just never had the pace. We didn’t have forward thinking wingers, today we have and it looks like it will make a huge difference.

I said in last week’s column that 4-4-2 was an old formation and really, in many ways, it is. Most top sides have reverted to 4-3-3 after influence really from abroad and particularly from Spain.

But in Cardiff’s case against Wolves I do have to eat my words slightly and I can assure you I don’t do that very often!

The 4-4-2 system Mackay used against Wolves was effective, but I still believe when they come up against teams that play the 4-3-3 system properly Cardiff are going to face some problems.

But the fact is that Mackay has plenty of options and plenty of flexibility and he is sure to use that as the season goes on.

Against Wolves the Bluebirds played so well that by the end the visitors had simply run out of ideas. The first half was pretty much 50-50 and it was a good game of football with each side having little periods of sustained pressure.

It was a good game to watch. Cardiff got into a better rhythm and dominated from about an hour in and suddenly Wolves started to look very tired.

In many ways Wolves reminded me of how Cardiff were last year, very good in departments, but with no real cutting edge in any of those.

Finally I want to mention Nicky Maynard who might not have got a goal on his debut, but can be pretty satisfied with the work he put in against Wolves. I tell you what, I’m very glad Mackay listened to my suggestion to buy him in this very column a couple of weeks back. Ho, ho!

Maynard has got the great timing a good striker needs. He is the type of man who will score 15 to 20 goals in a bad team. It’s something he has proved already.

In a good team anything could happen. For me you just play him and play him and play him until he tells you he’s had enough.

He’s a cracking player, a cracking signing. Cardiff have goals in them, goals over the whole pitch really.

I’d say there are eight players out there able to score you goal and that is incredible fire-power to have.

Generally it looks good and Mackay has done an excellent job. He has built on what he started last season. He has mixed the old and new and it looks like it will match up to very exciting times for the Bluebirds indeed.